Almost nine years of civil war in Syria has left more than 380,000 people dead including over 115,000 civilians, a war monitor said in a new toll Saturday.

NATO has suspended its training missions in Iraq, a spokesman for the alliance said Saturday, following the US killing of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani.

The British government on Saturday advised UK nationals to avoid travelling to Iraq and Iran in face of heightened tensions in the Middle East following the US killing of a top Iranian commander in Baghdad.

US-led forces helping Iraqi troops fight jihadists have scaled back operations, a US defence official told AFP Saturday, a day after a US strike killed top Iranian and Iraqi commanders.

African Union chief Moussa Faki Mahamat has expressed his grave concern over potential "interference" in Libya, after Turkey approved the deployment of troops to the conflict-torn North African nation.

Turkish lawmakers on Thursday passed a bill approving a military deployment in Libya to shore up the UN-backed government in Tripoli, which has been under sustained attack since April from a rival administration in the east of the country.

Thousands of Iraqis chanting "Death to America" on Saturday mourned an Iranian commander and others killed in a US drone attack that sparked fears of a regional proxy war between Washington and Tehran.

The killing of Iran's Major General Qasem Soleimani on Friday was the most dramatic escalation yet in spiralling tensions between Iran and the United States, which pledged to send thousands more troops to the region.

A fresh air strike hit pro-Iran fighters in Iraq early Saturday, as fears grew of a proxy war erupting between Washington and Tehran a day after an American drone strike killed a top Iranian general.

The killing of Quds Force commander Major General Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad on Friday was the most dramatic escalation yet in spiralling tensions between Iran and the United States, which pledged to send more troops to the region -- even as President Donald Trump insisted he did not want war.

America's allies in the Gulf could be on the front line of Iranian reprisals after the assassination of military commander Qasem Soleimani inflamed fears of a disastrous escalation, analysts say.

The current cycle of violence in Iraq must be stopped before it "spirals out of control," European Foreign Minister Josep Borrell warned Friday, after the US killed a top Iranian in Baghdad.

Yemen's pro-Tehran rebels, who control the capital Sanaa, called Friday for "swift reprisals" for the killing of senior Iranian commander Major General Qasem Soleimani in a U.S. strike in Baghdad.